A few days were still left before the probable arrival of the steamer which would bear the travellers home. For many weeks Isaac Sharp's thoughts had turned to Utskauler and some other places on the coast. He now learnt that on the following Sunday a large number of people would assemble there from many miles round, on the occasion of the opening of a new church. He at first feared that the length of the ceremony might prevent his companion and himself from having a suitable opportunity for expressing what the Lord might lay on their hearts. But the priest, a near relative of the Bishop, most kindly made way for the Friends, who were thus able to meet with a deeply attentive congregation of 500 people, probably a larger number than they could otherwise have met with in a journey of many days or weeks. In reference to the opening of the church, the nature of true worship was freely spoken of: "That it is not enough to assemble outwardly at one time, and in one place. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.' Neither will the offering of prayer avail unless it be the utterance of the heart." Truly, the Friends found themselves in a unique position that day, but surely it was by the will of God. At the close of the meeting the priest publicly acknowledged the visit of the Friends in the name of the whole congregation. Asbjorn Kloster afterwards said to Isaac Sharp, "We have had many formidable occasions, and to-day was not the least." About sixty meetings were held in Iceland. The homeward voyage from Iceland was a very stormy one. Isaac Sharp writes that one night during the danger experienced in a violent gale, he realised the truth of the words, "The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak." He adds, "It was a season of solemn review. Myself and my children, time past and present, and the possible future, or suspension of the future, were vividly before me; the littleness of earth A LAND OF NEGATIVES. 35 and its belongings, and the need of knowing my own will to be swallowed up in the Divine will was present with me. A precious watchword was given me : 'Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen; I will be exalted in the earth. In condescending mercy it was permitted me, humbly and confidingly, to cast my all upon the Lord for time and for eternity. The day drew on, and the force gradually abated both of wind and wave." He would describe Iceland as being a land of negatives. "No dissent—the religion is Lutheran, no army, no navy, no prisons, no roads, no inns, no carriages, no trees, no poultry, no snakes." When writing of two days travel without seeing a single house, he adds: "Our road was over trackless wastes of rock and sand, here and there charmingly relieved by the wild flowers of Iceland, lovely to look upon, and strikingly calling to remembrance the late William Wilberforce who spoke of floral beauty as the smile of Providence." " Once more with his beloved family and friends, he writes of a "precious sense" being granted that over all the frailty and shortcoming of the last four months, unmerited love and mercy have been sweetly spread. Peace with God through Jesus Christ has been, at times rejoicingly, the clothing of my spirit, with some renewed ability confidingly to trust in the goodness and guidance of the Great Head of the Church, and the unfolding of heavenly counsel for any portion of service, and the order of that service which may yet remain." With simple faith he might have used Charles Wesley's words: "Saviour to Thee my soul looks up, CHAPTER IV. "Far and wide, though all unknowing, A. C. Coxe. THR HREE months in the spring and early summer of 1862, were spent by Isaac Sharp in a visit to the Faroe Islands, Asbjorn Kloster being again his companion in service. On the morning of the 23rd of April, the two Friends landed at Thorshaven, the capital of the islands, which has a population of about eight hundred. As the place did not possess an inn, they found accommodation at the house of one of the factors. Isaac Sharp writes: "It now became a matter of serious deliberation how to proceed for the best, weather, wind and wave often setting arrangements aside, however carefully made. The rapid flow of the ocean currents between one island and another had also to be kept in view. Sudden squalls often arise with great rapidity, and the gusts from the mountains render sailing at times both difficult and dangerous." Many of the remote districts of these islands, therefore, only receive a pastoral visit from the appointed minister at intervals varying from three to six times a year. Meanwhile, according to the rules of the Lutheran Church, the portion for the day is read to those who assemble in the kirk in each parish on Sundays, and on some other occasions. To quote again from Isaac Sharp: "Great is the difficulty and distress to which these islanders are constantly exposed in the event of sudden illness or accident, there being at present but one doctor for seventeen islands, occupying a space of nearly sixty miles from north to south, and forty from east to west." His own health suffered a good deal from sleeping in very damp beds, a more serious matter than being often wet and weary when going from island to island in open boats, or when climbing the fells. Whilst we must not follow him in his service from place to place, his account of his visit to the island of Myggennes, the most westerly of the group, must be recorded. "With a crew of ten we left Sorvaag in an open boat soon after 6 a.m. As appears usual when entering on a hazardous enterprise, the boatmen sang a hymn while yet in the still water of the bay." This may remind us of the Breton fisherman's prayer: "Keep me, my God; My boat is so small, and the ocean is so wide." "The morning," continues Isaac Sharp, "was fine, but on nearing the island it was found impracticable to land at the usual place owing to the heavy breakers on the rocky shore. Our boatmen therefore steered for the eastern end of the island and entered a little cove under shelter of a few projecting rocks, from whence our ascent began. After climbing up some forty or fifty feet, a sloping ledge of rock, barely wide enough for one at a time, brought us to the foot of an almost perpendicular ascent where a chain hanging loosely against the rock but secured at the top and bottom presented the only means of access to the heights above. "Two of the boat's crew, accustomed as fowlers to climb, first ascended, carrying one end of a rope, and my turn having come, the other end by a secure knot well tested was fastened round my waist. In this manner the ascent of some fifty or sixty feet was made by climbing up the chain, aided by the men above, who held the rope. The mountain slope on reaching the top was for a considerable distance steeper than the roof of an ordinary house. My valued companion and myself were mercifully preserved from fear during the ascent, and felt no giddiness, but the strain on the muscles was great and exhausting. For nearly an hour we continued to ascend the ridges of the fell, in some places rocky and steep, and veiled as the mists of the mountains came sweeping by. "On nearing the hamlet we met seven men on their way to the rocky ledges to seek for sea birds and for eggs, a dangerous undertaking much resorted to in some of the islands of Faroe. The object of our visit was explained to them. They told us it was too far for them to go back to the hamlet, their arrangements for the fowling having been made, but they were willing to go with us a little space to the sheltering brow of a hill. This opportunity was embraced to tell them that although in their employment they were accustomed to dangers which at any moment might end their earthly course, there is a death more terrible far than the death of the body, and that it is a bounden duty to seek a preparation for the life to come. The men were respectful and listened attentively; soon we parted company and journeyed on, they in one direction, we in another. "Between 1 and 12 we reached the hamlet, but the Kirkevegr, the principal man of the place, told us plainly there had been service in the kirk that morning already and he did not care for any more. If the people wished to attend our meeting they might, though not at his house, but we were welcome to come in and rest. We entered, and soon found the wife more favourably disposed towards us. By degrees her husband softened, and not only prepared a room for the meeting, but gave notice to his neighbours; and between 12 and 1 o'clock nearly fifty persons |